Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!

I kind of do that with my Dodge Grand Caravan, but not on a permanent basis. I have a cot that fits on one side in the back. I place my dog crates on the other side two facing the sliding door and the other two, one on top of the other, facing toward the back and put a small cooler and other items under the cot. Other needed items are placed on top of the cot and moved to the front when I stop for the night. I use the tops of the crates for a table.

At one time there were some companies making the over the tail lift gate tents—I know you could get them for the Aztec and a some others. I had a Pontiac Montana that came with a built in air pump–that would make a HUGE difference in getting air items inflated and of course–tires! One of the things I miss about that van—drove it for 191,000 miles too. Including towing a large motorcycle.

You can also use netting and velcro to make your own–just re-inforce the edges with canvas and add grommets. Bungie cords are your friend!

Make sure your rear WINDOWS OPEN–on several van models they do NOT OPEN AT ALL. The Honda Odyssey has this format—nice van but stupid design components.

What the guy did here is actually pretty easy—he left the rear row of seats in for making the “Booth” and I would suspect used an in-floor “cup” like in a boat or RV to hold the table base. If I remember right this kind has “Stow N Go” seats so you could–in theory–use the front center seats as a third row and just flip them forward when not needing them. The spare on mine was under the car–which was a pain in some ways—but gives you more room in the back. Some of these vans tho have hardly ANY room behind that rear row of seats–try and put a stroller in there!

We have thought of doing this instead of getting some sort of RV or truck/SUV as I have mobility issues. I don’t know that I would do as dedicated a set up as this but for nights when we did not want or could not find a place to stay this would come in handy; use one of those small plug in fridges (I had one that worked as a center cup holder for the front but you could put it anywhere) mine also had a Keep Warm setting; or my extra cool vintage Coke Cooler that we added to our bike trailer!–a small grill set up–camping places have options and on line too–or I could break out the Svea stove. A 5 gallon water dispenser and a bucket and dishpan—you can also buy—for about $30 on —eBay–a Shower or Toilet Tent that pops up and stows in a small area- do a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat (Campmor or Walmart) –get a couple of Solar Shower Bags and fill in the AM and you would have dish water and shower water if you were boondocking.

Just make sure your total tow weight is good before you add a trailer etc. For two people and regular gear you should be fine. lose those seats and you save a few hundred pounds right there. There are LOTS of these sort of things on Instructables and other sites. A wide range–much wider than I would have thought–of options for the bucket toilet too! Not only the set up but what you put in it to hold liquids etc.

Looking to do a minivan based RV myself. Want to start with a wheelchair accessible unit (10″ lowered floor helps with head room) Add a raised roof and I should gave enough head room. Teardrop trailer style kitchen in the back ( 18″ deep, but accessible from the inside too). Two or three burner stove on one side, deep sink on the other. Cooler or mini fridge under and between them, on slide to access om inside or out. Awnings on both sides. And over the rear hatch as well. Futon style bed running from drivers seat to the kitchen (6’6″) Possible swivel on passenger front seat, to allow it to face the rear Screen to fit in front windows (with vent shades) and something similar in rear windows.

I do mine with milk crates and plywood. The milk create height allow almost enough room to sit up straight. I cut the plywood into 2 4 foot sections, overlapped for size of mattress, and drill a hole on either side, a rope acts as a hinge so I can lift it at the hatch when I want something from the middle. Primary cooking equipment in the 2 crates at the hatch. Cooler slide in between those 2 rear crates, mostly just to store the canned goods. In the middle go things like tent, screen tent, sleeping bag, and a bunch of other stuff, including a folding table. Toward the front we use a crate stuffed with shoes. Behind the driver is water, tools, hats, blankets, jackets, and a full size guitar. Reachable from the front seat is a soft cooler full of snacks and other stuff that might be useful during the drive time. Mosquito net hangs from the sealing when in buggy country.

My wife and I put 40000 miles on a rusty 2003 in the last 3 years. Stealth camping when I got the timing wrong, or the campground was full or non-existent. Mostly COE, NP and NF. Much much better than dragging suitcases and bed bug detection.